Jacobina Mentz Maurer
Encyclopedia
Revolt of the Muckers
The Revolt of the Muckers was a notable event that happened during the Empire of Brazil in the region of Sapiranga, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It was a religious conflict led by Jacobina Mentz Maurer, that happened in the years of 1873 and 1874, between two groups in a German community in Southern...
that happened in a German
German Brazilian
A German Brazilian is a Brazilian person of ethnic German ancestry or origin...
community in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Early life
Jacobina Mentz was the daughter of André Mentz and Maria Elisabeth Müller, German immigrants from Tambach-DietharzTambach-Dietharz
Tambach-Dietharz is a town in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated in the Thuringian Forest, 19 km south of Gotha.- Places of interest :...
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. They arrived in Brazil on November 6, 1824 fleeing religious persecution
Religious persecution
Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or lack thereof....
(both left the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
church (often mistaken as protestant) and established an independent religious community, and then they began to be persecuted by the locals). Their daughter, Jacobina Mentz, was born in Brazil and raised in nowadays Novo Hamburgo
Novo Hamburgo
Novo Hamburgo is a city in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.Its population is 237,044 . The city covers an area of 217 square kilometers, and the average temperature is 19°C, a mild one for the region...
, Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
, in a rural community composed of religious German immigrants, with both Lutheran and Protestant members. Jacobina's family was responsible for building the first Protestant church which (which was burned down by an angry farmhand who disapproved of their actions) in Southern Brazil. On April 26, 1866, Jacobina married João Jorge Maurer, also the descendant of a long line of German immigrants. In the same year, the couple moved from nowadays Novo Hamburgo to Ferrabráz, in nowadays Sapiranga.
The Muckers
In 1868, João Maurer had a "divine vision", telling him to abandon all of the crop in order to be a doctorPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. Soon after he met healer Buchhorn, who taught him the secrets of basic medical practice. These German immigrants lived in an isolated rural community without access to food, water, or medical care. Therefore, many people used to consult local Shamans. In 1870, the couple started to receive at home people for meetings of Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
reading around Jacobina. Jacobina suffered from fainting attacks since she was 9 years old and people associated her sleepwalking
Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
situation with secret powers. Soon, hundreds of people started to follow Jacobina and her teachings. Many people left the local Catholic or Lutheran churches and established a fanatical sect
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...
, with Jacobina being their leader. This situation worried the local priests and the members of the community who did not join the others. Then the community was divided into two: those who joined Jacobina were known as Mucker (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for "False Saint") and those who were against Jacobina known as Spotter (debauchee).
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. Later people started to see her as the reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
of Jesus Christ. Conflicts between the followers of Jacobina (Muckers) and their enemies (Spotters) increased when people began to buy weapons. Policemen raided Jacobina's house and found the weapons. She was arrested during a crisis of lethargy and conducted to São Leopoldo, sleeping for 9 hours. To wake her up, the doctors used stinging needle and tip of knife. However, she only wake up when her followers started singing after 5 hours of attempts. Jacobina was released and received with great affection by the community.
People who were against the Muckers started to be brutally murdered in a fashion most gruesome. Major conflicts between the community members began to happen. On December 10, 1873 João Maurer, along with several members, went to then Brazil's capital, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, to deliver a petition to the Emperor Pedro II
Pedro II of Brazil
Dom Pedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous", was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of...
, complaining of political harassment, bloody beatings, and most unfriendly insults and moral heritage against other settlers. Representatives of the Empire requested explanations from the authorities of Rio Grande do Sul on the case.
On May 4, 1874 happened the great reunion in the Maurer's house, with the estimated presence of 100 to 500 people. Jacobina announced the end of the world and ordered the extermination of 16 enemy families. On June 15 happened the massacre of the Kassel family. The Maurer couple had the arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
decreed. On June 25, 14 houses of enemies were burned and 10 people were killed, including children. Soon there were several conflicts between the Muckers and the Spotters, resulting in violence and several deaths. On June 28, the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
attacked, but the Muckers won the conflict. This contributed to the belief of the divinity of Jacobina. After another failed attack, Jacobina succeeded in escaping and hiding Ferrabraz. The end of the conflict occurred on August 2 of that year, when a traitor, Carlos Luppa, led the police to the hideout of Jacobina Mentz, who was killed with the majority of Muckers. The Muckers that survived were tried and released or absorbed on June 16, 1880. Even after Jacobina's death, there are records of the presence of Muckers as late as 1897 and 1898. On October 23-24, 1897 three people were killed and the crime was attributed to the Muckers led by Aurélia Maurer, the daughter of Jacobina. In 1898, a group of 100 Germans murdered 5 Muckers in the region of Nova Petrópolis
Nova Petrópolis
Nova Petrópolis is a municipality in the Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The main town and seat of the municipality is also called Nova Petropolis. It is located in the Serra Gaúcha region, at 29º22'35" South, 51º06'52" West, about 100 km north of Porto Alegre, the state capital city...
and Lajeado.
Filmography
In 1978, filmmaker Jorge Bodansky reproduced the Revolt of the Muckers in the film Os Muckers (in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, it was named Jakobine). In 2002, filmmaker Fábio Barreto reproduced the Revolt in the movie A Paixão de Jacobina, with actress Letícia Spiller in the lead role.